Lafarge is recalling 77 of its employees as early as today because of an uptick in demand for cement, the The Alpena News[1]reports.

The plant’s employees were laid off in early April when the plant had a full inventory of product and not enough orders to get rid of it, so the plant was forced to trim its workforce and shut down its kilns until market and demand for the product picked up, according to an online report from the news source.

Craig Ryan, public relation manager for Lafarge, said things have improved enough to have the workers return to work, according to the report.

“We will have everybody back over the course of the next few weeks,” he said in the newspaper report. “We are going to do it in steps. We will have some beginning Monday and more from then on. We have to do it that way because we can’t start up all the kilns at one time.”

The layoff was anticipated to last longer than what it turned out to be, The Alpena News reported. Ryan said he is glad the workers are coming back and that business conditions have improved. He also said he hopes the improved business climate can continue, according to the report.